Culture texts for ESO: learning to read or reading to learn?

Reading is an essential part of language learning at all levels. But in the ESO classroom, are students learning to read in English or reading to learn about the world around them? Hopefully a bit of both, argues Catherine McBeth.

Author: Catherine McBeth

What do I mean by culture?

As part of the research process for writing ESO materials, I often find myself talking to teachers of English in schools all around Spain. One of the questions I often ask is about ‘culture’ in the classroom. At first, the response is almost always positive: students love to hear tales of life in London, Dublin or Glasgow, or to untangle the lyrics of their favourite British or American songs, as well as learning about the idiosyncrasies of Anglo-Saxon life. But then come the buts: I wish I had time but …, My students like it but they haven’t got the level yet, It’s a great idea but it’s not in the exam …

In the not too distant past, language learning was regarded as the key to the ‘high culture’ of another land, literally unlocking its libraries and making its literature accessible without translation. You needed the language in order to get to the culture. Now though, in our multicultural, globalised world, we know that language and culture go hand in hand; students can not really ‘know English’ without knowing something of the people who speak it, of the places where it is spoken, of the thoughts and ideas and feelings which lie behind the words. That is this thing called culture, which sometimes gets left by the wayside when there’s so much language to cover.

Let’s get cultural!

Given that reading is an essential skill in the ESO classroom, let’s make the most of it and ensure that students read to learn as well as learning to read. ‘Cultural texts’ can take many forms, but I am going to illustrate the use of two types: texts about cultural aspects of English-speaking countries around the world and texts about contemporary cultural issues which affect young people everywhere. Examples of the former might include an article about South Africa hosting the next World Cup or a brochure about Australian wildlife. The latter might include texts about changing technology, genetically modified food, social networking or immigration. Integrating cultural texts into your English course enables students to practise three essential reading skills:

- Reading for language acquisition: the texts provide language input which enables students to expand their vocabulary and see how grammar is used in an authentic context.

- Reading for information: the exercises provide practice of extracting ‘real’ information which gives a meaningful sense of purpose.

– Reading for cultural knowledge: students gain insight into the way other people live and awareness of the issues that concern them. By reflecting on the similarities and differences between themselves and others, they can break down cultural stereotypes and increase tolerance and understanding.

– ‘Doing culture': one step at a time! Any kind of reading text can seem challenging to many students, so it is important to stress that they should worry more about the task than the difficulty of the text. They do this naturally in their own language, but in English all too often they are caught up in the perceived need to understand every single word. Here is an example from each cycle.

Figs 1 & 2: First-cycle ESO

Figs 3 & 4: Second-cycle ESO

Step 1: Pre-reading

Pre-reading activities make tasks more manageable for students. Depending on the text, you can either get them to describe the pictures, elicit background knowledge, read the title and predict the content of the text or find places on a map. With older students, you can introduce an element of personalisation to increase their interest. Also, make sure you identify the initial purpose for reading. Get students to read the gist task before they read the text, so that they can focus on what they have to do.

Step 2: Reading

Avoid asking students to read the text aloud. By nature, reading is usually a silent, reflective task. Reading aloud presents different challenges such as word recognition and pronunciation, and usually entails a complete loss of the meaning behind the words. However, if the text is recorded, listening at the same time can aid comprehension. The tone and inflection of a native speaker can help students to see the separation between ideas and to understand emphasis, attitude and humour. At this first reading, focus only on the gist question. Questions of linguistic detail can come later.

Step 3: Post-reading

After the initial reading, there are countless ways of exploiting a text, including finding words to match to definitions, checking facts in the text and finding supporting evidence, getting students to write their own comprehension questions and identifying uses of grammar in context.

Step 4: Personalisation

Finally, with carefully guided activities and plenty of time to prepare their ideas, students can add their own voice to the topic of discussion.

Language both reflects and creates culture; the two are inextricably linked. By bringing more cultural content into the language classroom, we can thereby open the door to a far more meaningful learning experience for our students.

(All examples are taken from Voices 1 & 3)

About the Author

Catherine McBeth

Catherine McBeth is a freelance writer currently based in the Peak District. Having gained a degree in Spanish and French in 1992, she moved to Madrid and spent several years working as an English teacher and translator. On returning to Britain she worked as an ELT editor in Oxford before becoming a freelance author. After contributing to the Spanish-language course A Buen Puerto, she went on to write a range of materials for secondary English-language courses, including Macmillan’sDefinitions and Upgrade forBachillerato and Voices for ESO level. Her latest four-level secondary course Pulse was published by Macmillan in 2014.

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About the Author

Catherine McBeth

Catherine McBeth is a freelance writer currently based in the Peak District. Having gained a degree in Spanish and French in 1992, she moved to Madrid and spent several years working as an English teacher and translator. On returning to Britain she worked as an ELT editor in Oxford before becoming a freelance author. After contributing to the Spanish-language course A Buen Puerto, she went on to write a range of materials for secondary English-language courses, including Macmillan’sDefinitions and Upgrade forBachillerato and Voices for ESO level. Her latest four-level secondary course Pulse was published by Macmillan in 2014.